Small and Simple Things

This is one of the last pictures we have of my dad. It was taken on my mother's 85th birthday on February 3, 2001. Dad's 90th birthday was to be June 19th, and he was really looking forward to turning 90.

He left us suddenly on May 14, 2001 - 7 years ago. He had had a perfect day,
breakfast in the morning with mom, trip to town, mow the lawn, lunch with mom, trip to town to buy tomato plants for his garden, and a plan to go to Pocatello for a 1-year-old birthday party for his great grand daughter.

There was a strong wind and he had an inner ear problem that caused him to be dizzy. When my younger sister Cynthia came to get my parents for the party, she found that he had fallen down just out side the barn door, where he was going to get potatoes to take to my brother. He was life flighted to Pocatello where he was pronounced dead. (Dad always brought us potatoes when he came to visit, potatoes from our farm were the greatest ever.)

Below is a picture that we took of dad and Heather, just before her mission in 1999.



The following is a wonderful little story that shows how prepared he was in the simple little things:

About 3:30 PM on New Years Eve, my sister Sylvia, who is taking care of my mother, realized the furnace was not working. She started trying to find some one who could repair it. My brother in law, Kim came about 5:00 and found out that one of the sequencers for one of the elements was not shutting off, so the fan had to keep going. The box to shut off the furnace is outside in back of the house so Kim had to go through deep snow to get there. When he came back downstairs to take out the part I don't know what prompted him to look around, but sitting on top of the water heater in a box was one of those parts. Wthey didn't know if it was used or not. He called a repair man in Arco and he didn't have any on hand, so KIm put it in the furnace to check it out and it worked and is still working.

This is not the first time that Kim has been able to find a part that he has needed to do a repair on the furnace. Sylvia just can't believe all the blessings that Dad left around the house. THey use them all the time in the sturdy handrails he put in the bathroom and on the outside steps. He really tried to look ahead and be prepared.